Post by Danger Zone Wolfie on May 8, 2006 10:35:01 GMT -5
Heh, whatta ya know? They finally made good on that promise to work together on a plane.
The U.S., Great Britain, and a whole bunch of other countries (Italy, The Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Denmark, Australia, and Canada, etc.) have been talking about combining funds and technologies to create one jet fighter for years. They're finally going into production.
They wound up choosing the Lockheed-Martin F-35 over the Boeing F-32 (thankfully! XD The F-32 was a plane that, and I quote, "only its mother would love." Although I'm willing to bet it would have been cool in the right light, that big-mouthed air intake right in the middle is none too flattering and cuts down on the possibility of using stealth technology).
The Joint Strike Fighter was put into production the beginning of last year. It's first flight is supposed to be this September. It's expected to be in service somewhere between 2009 and 2012.
And, oh, as a P.S.
One: It's got no HUD. (Ohmigawd. No. HUD's are cool and I think they're a great idea to put as a background on a web page...) This is the only combat aircraft in recent history to not have a Heads-Up Display. And whattaya wanna bet there's gonna be some griping about the fact all the info is now displayed on the helmet?
and
Two: It was designed to supercruise (go over Mach 1 without use of afterburners), but it can't at this point. Probably because it only has one engine, but that comment's just me being me.
More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35
The U.S., Great Britain, and a whole bunch of other countries (Italy, The Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Denmark, Australia, and Canada, etc.) have been talking about combining funds and technologies to create one jet fighter for years. They're finally going into production.
They wound up choosing the Lockheed-Martin F-35 over the Boeing F-32 (thankfully! XD The F-32 was a plane that, and I quote, "only its mother would love." Although I'm willing to bet it would have been cool in the right light, that big-mouthed air intake right in the middle is none too flattering and cuts down on the possibility of using stealth technology).
The Joint Strike Fighter was put into production the beginning of last year. It's first flight is supposed to be this September. It's expected to be in service somewhere between 2009 and 2012.
And, oh, as a P.S.
One: It's got no HUD. (Ohmigawd. No. HUD's are cool and I think they're a great idea to put as a background on a web page...) This is the only combat aircraft in recent history to not have a Heads-Up Display. And whattaya wanna bet there's gonna be some griping about the fact all the info is now displayed on the helmet?
and
Two: It was designed to supercruise (go over Mach 1 without use of afterburners), but it can't at this point. Probably because it only has one engine, but that comment's just me being me.
More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35
